“Column” of Humanity

by Angela Tian Zhu | Jun 6, 2011 | Wellbeing

All objects, plants and animals that can stand must have a “column”. For example: houses, buildings, towers, trees and upright animals. Humans are no exceptions.

From the point of view of vital energies and Qi Gong theory, where is the human’s “column”? People often think of the spine as the “column”. But what part of the body supports the spine? Why can our spine bend and curve? Why does our spine compress and lose flexibility as we get older? Why do some people have scoliosis during puberty?

1. Where is a human’s “column”?

From the point of view of vital energies and Qi Gong theory, there are 4 components in the “column”: Hui Yin (between the anus and genitals), Dan Tian (under the navel, inside the stomach), the spine, and Bai Hui (on top head of the centre-line of the body, between the ears)

It is the Dan Tian that supports the spine to be upright, grow and move. When the Dan Tian‘s energy deficient then the spine maid curve and bend.

2. What is the “column”?

Hui yin is the biggest yin energy point, Bai Hui is the biggest yang energy point. The “column” combines the yin and yang energy to reflect the human body’s natural cycle of birth, growth, ageing, sickness and death. The changes in the “column” reflect these different stages of life. The “column” also represents the condition of a person’s energy level, mental state and body health.

3. Why do we need to maintain the “column”?

• Hui yin is the biggest yin energy point, and Bai Hui is the biggest yang energy point; when they connect in the column the yin and yang energy can rise and fall smoothly to adjust, balance and harmonise the body’s inner environment.
• Hui Yin connects with the Dan Tian to strengthen the Dan Tian’s energy as a Qi core, which provides the pre and post natal energy.
• The Dan Tian opens up the body, Organs, and especially the column. This strengthens the vital energy and nourishes the blood, improves circulation and makes the inside and outside of the body healthier and younger. Gives positive energy and good attitude.
• The Dan Tian stretches and lifts the spine to help prevent scoliosis and helps spinal fluid reach the brain better. In the long term, this helps to prevent Alzheimer’s, dementia, spinal disease (including cervical and lumber) and balances yin and yang energy in the brain to prevent depression.
• The column improves posture to make people look good and feel more positive.

4. How do we maintain the “column”?

• Lift the Hui yin up into the Dan Tian, use the Dan Tian to push the spine up and legs down concurrently, through to the top of the head and the brain, along the Bai Hui.
• Aligning the Hui yin and Bai Hui;  It is best achieved by picturing it: the chin in line  the chest bone.
• Walking with heels down and toes up is the better way to open up the body from Dan Tian and “Column”
• Do these whilst standing, walking, and sitting with the column up every day.

In order to have a better understanding of the importance of the “column”, refer to ‘Million-Dollar Point‘ and ‘Dan Tian – Qi Core of Humanity‘.

Traditional Qi’s two concepts are prevention and wisdom.

Written by Angela Zhu, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner, Qi Gong & Tai Chi instructor.

© Copyright Angela Zhu 2011

The Two Directions Wisdom (Part 1)

by Angela Tian Zhu | Mar 31, 2011 | Wellbeing

Ancient Chinese Yin-yang Philosophy delivered us infinite wisdom.

One of the Yin-Yang view points is: Yin is inside, Yang is outside; Yin is entering, Yang is exiting. Yin is giving, Yang is receiving. Open and close.  The most important theory is that they need to ‘balance’.  Trouble would come if imbalance occurs and things can go wrong with health and life. Human beings have nine holes on the body: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth, anus and urethra (females have one more: vulva). Our body is designed to open and close these holes.

To achieve harmony and prevent depression we need to use our senses to apply the “two directions” philosophy to keep inner environment balance and harmony around us.

1. Wisely using eyes in two-directions.

Everyone use their eyes to observe the outside world, like mountains, rivers, flowers, plants, and other people’s appearance, behaviour, attitude, facial expressions etc. At the same time, we should use our eyes to observe the appearance, behaviour, attitude, facial expressions of ourselves too. A terminology in Qi Gong is “picture the inside ”, it’s also called “visualising the inside.”

Physically:

We open our eyes during day time and close them at night.

If we are not sleeping or using the eyes too long, not resting we will damage the vital Qi. (Energy)

Spiritually:

Use wise eyes to observe in a “two-directions” method. Normally people only use eyes to observe the outside world, people don’t pay much attention to the inner world .We need to use our eyes to appreciate not only to observe the mountains, rivers, flowers, plants etc, but also use the wisdom eyes to look at the kindness and inner beauty of other people and things, at the same time, realise the kindness, capabilities, strengths and beauty of ourselves.

We should ask ourselves “what am I looking for,”  “why is my behaviour like this? “ Thus we change and improve ourselves. In contrast, if the eyes do not go “two- directions”, we only look into the mistakes made by other people, ignore the ones made by ourselves. Pointing at others by our forefinger,  we are not aware that the other three fingers are actually pointing back at us.  This would affect the inner harmony and it would lead to depression and hatred in the long term. However, if we blindly blame ourselves with enormous compunction, aren’t we easily getting into “one-way” and putting ourselves into depression? The wise way is that after looking into the weakness of ourselves from inside, we try to improve ourselves in the future. Meanwhile, accept reality and face it objectively. Seeing things in “two-ways” enables a peaceful mind and allows us, to treat people and our self sensibly so we won’t feel depressed.

2. Wisely using ears in “two-directions”

Physically:

Generally speaking, we physically use our ears to hear various sounds from the outside environment. We listen to the opinions, suggestions, and judgement from others. We ignore external sounds when we are sleep. If we listen twenty four hours a day we will damage the vital Qi (Energy).

Spiritually:

If we are just listening from the outside it makes us feel lost and negative, not knowing which way to go or distinguish right from wrong. It will make us feel depressed and sad. If we only listen to the negative things, we will get depressed, if we only listen to the positive things, we would lose touch from reality. So we need to use our sense of hearing in both directions, listening to our heart, feelings, intuition, needs and opinions. With the “two-directions” listening we can balance and judge what we hear from the outside, combined with what we hear from our heart. This allows us to achieve the wisdom of listening.

…continued in Part 2

Prevention and wisdom are the two principles of Traditional Qi.

Written by:Angela Zhu (Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner, Qi Gong & Tai Chi Instructor)

Translated by:Alan Huang

© Copyright Angela Zhu 2011

by Angela Tian Zhu | Feb 7, 2011 | Wellbeing

WHY DRINK WARM WATER to PRESERVE ENERGY

·         Nourish our energy.  When you drink cold water, you need to spend

       extra energy to warm it before your body can absorb it.

·         Strengthen the energy of your organ’s blood circulation.  When cold water passes your chest, it may cool your heart, lungs, and bronchi and affect your breathing.

·         Protect your Stomach energy. Cold water can make your stomach contract, weaken the energy of the stomach consequently affect your digestion.

·         Help women’s health. Cold water can give you period pain, and irregular periods.

·         Help to reduce allergies. So, the energy can flow better in your body.

·         Help mental well-being and enable us to relax.

It    makes us sleep better.

 I suggest that people with depression, anxiety, tiredness, and digestion problems, drink warm water.

WRITTEN BY ANGELA ZHU 11. JULY 2024

Strengthen stomach Qi to help and prevent Depression

by Angela Tian Zhu | Oct 11, 2010 | Wellbeing

In Chinese medicine stomach Qi is the function of postnatal energy. Stomach and spleen act like a couple. They are together to receive and digest the food and transfer the nutrition to every part of the body. Once we are born we depend on food to survive and the nutrition we receive from the food depends on the spleen and stomach energy together. Without the stomach spleen Qi, life would be very difficult or impossible.

A few years ago I treated a young lady as a patient. She had irritable bowel syndrome which always made her feel very bloated after eating. Some days she would have diarrhoea, some days she couldn’t go to the toilet at all. She always felt tired, couldn’t concentrate and on top of that she was also depressed. After a few acupuncture treatments to strengthen her stomach and spleen, the stomach got better very soon and she stopped feeling depressed.

I had a similar experience with a young man a little while ago who came in to see me for treatments. He told me he was very depressed, tired and didn’t have appetite but felt bloated. At that time it was very hot and humid outside. When checking the tongue and pulse I noticed there was a lot of dampness in his stomach. This problem is often caused by stomach and spleen Qi deficiency. The spleen energy is the energy moving the fluid in your body. Sometimes when it’s humid and you drink cold drinks or eat too much, your body will store dampness. This dampness can make you feel very tired and depressed. The acupuncture treatment helped him remove the dampness and he started feeling much better.

Stomach Qi goes down, and so should the food, making its way into the lower stomach and finally go out of the body as waste. Spleen energy does the opposite and goes up, brings the nutrition to every part of your body. When those functions don’t work, you are deficient or have too much dampness in your body, your body is off balance and you feel depressed and tired. Your body will either store too much dampness or won’t get enough nutrition. Strengthening the stomach spleen Qi will help you have a stronger stomach and will also ease or prevent Depression.

How to treat and prevent Depression

Make sure you eat regularly and healthily. Avoid eating late and big dinners. When you eat late, food stays in your stomach over night and you store a lot of dampness in your body and you will most likely feel very heavy in the morning. Overall this can also make you feel depressed.

When you are angry and stressed don’t eat too much. The stomach is very tight when stressed or angry, which means the stomach hasn’t got enough Qi to digest the food. So when eating a lot you damage the stomach Qi. Try eating little and light. What you should also avoid is cold icy drinks and food. This also damages the stomach Qi and has to make the body work harder having to warm up the food and then on top of it digest it.

Exercise is a great way of preventing and helping depression. It’s also a great way of getting rid of body fat, fluid and dampness, helping strengthen the stomach Qi.

Stomach problems should be treated as early as possible. We recommend Tai Chi, Qi Gong or other exercise. Chinese medicine has lots of ways of helping stomach problems

Prevention and wisdom are the two principles of Traditional Qi.

Written by Angela Zhu, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner, Qi Gong & Tai Chi instructor.

© Copyright Angela Zhu 2010